''Maybe never,'' said Matthews, back at the Gabba on Thursday to help promote the club's 10th anniversary celebrations in March.

Matthews quickly clarified his response, saying there was never any certainty with premierships.

And he should know.

Voted the best player of the 20th century, he won three premierships as a player and four as a coach with two different clubs.

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''You often have a premiership era and the longest premiership era in my time was the Hawthorn decade [five premierships and runners-up three times].

''The five or six years this club had their premiership window, they got to four grand finals and won three in a row. Not even the Hawthorn team of that era could win three in a row.''

While not one for comparing eras, Matthews said given the Lions achieved their hat-trick in the early 2000s and Geelong (2007-09-11) were soon after, he would back his team against the Cats. ''To get to the final day and win it three times in a row … whatever you think of this now, you'll think more of it in the decades to come because history says it just doesn't happen.''

Voss, who has the task of taking his developing group to the next level in 2013, understood what Matthews was saying.

He recalled after Brisbane's historic first premiership win over Essendon in 2001 teammates rushing off to do a victory lap of the MCG.

''I remember going over to the players and telling them, 'Don't run - walk. We may never be here again','' said Voss.

Voss said it wasn't until Geelong's recent domination that he was fully able to appreciate just how special the group coached by Matthews was.

''As a coach, I rarely reflect back on it but, to be honest, the only time I did was when I looked at Geelong and thought, 'How do you beat these blokes'. Then you think … hang on - that was us.

''That was the only time I've sat back and thought, 'Geez, we must have been all right'.''